For many years coloured particles have been incorporated into cleaning compositions for improving the aesthetics of the cleaning composition. Traditionally, these aesthetic particles are coloured detergent particles for example as described in WO 97/33965. They may also be in the form of noodles as described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,747,000.
The present invention seeks to provide improved aesthetic particles for use in consumer products, particularly cleaning compositions. However, producing shaped articles with complicated cross-sections is technically challenging. The process must be efficient and able to produce aesthetic particles at high speed, but also the aesthetic particles must have a good, reliable shape and meet the technical requirements of the end uses. For example, they may be required to dissolve during a washing process, such as a laundry washing process, whilst being robust enough to withstand handling and storage without breaking. These technical challenges are exacerbated because such particles are typically small, for example having a greatest cross-section of below 8 mm, usually below 6 mm or 5 mm or 4 mm.